If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Trying to CONCEIVE

My husband and i are both sexually active for a year and we are not using any protection, we are both fertile but i still don't understand why i am not pregnant. My friends would say we should try different sexual positions to conceive, is this true?

It is hard when you want to have a baby so much - but, for many couples, it can take longer to conceive than they anticipate.

How quickly you conceive depends on a variety of factors including:

-the age of yourself and your partner
-how frequently you have sex (the NICE guidelines are that couples trying to conceive have sex every 2-3 days). It's particularly important to have sex during your most fertile time of the month. There is an Ovulation Calendar here which can help with this.
-the health of yourself and your partner
-if you and your partner drink/smoke the chances are reduced
-stress makes it more difficult to conceive
-if you have any reproductive problems

If you have been trying to conceive for over a year then it is advised that you see your doctor. However, this source shows that if 100 couples were trying to conceive then only 85 couples would have conceived in the first year. Sometimes it just takes longer.

Do you have regular cycles?

There are no conclusive studies which show certain sexual positions make it significantly easier/quicker to conceive.

I hope this helps you and you and your husband are able to conceive soon.

If you know that you are both fertile, then the area you will want to concentrate on is getting your baby making timing and baby making techniques absolutely perfect.

I explain some of this in my response to a post entitled How to conceive if you have irregular periods. Please read that and then let me know if you already feel like you're getting your timing right. I can also give tips on positions, and techniques... things we used to conceive the first month we tried (works really well).

Are there vitamins or medications that my husband and I can take to increase our fertility as well? We are not much of a pill taker and usually just rely of good and healthy food for nourishment. I've heard about some pills that can aid people in getting more pregnant more easily.

The trick to figuring out which nutrients you need depends upon the quality of your cervical mucus and the quality of your husband's semen/sperm. Here's a thread that discusses how to watch your cervical mucus changes so that you know how to best time your baby making sex. But if you're not seeing that high quality "egg white" cervical mucus, then you'll want to concentrate on eating foods and taking supplements to increase your fertility.

Some of the more general things you can take would be a high quality prenatal supplement for you. Be sure it's one that has a high bioavailability so your body can utilize the nutrients well. Some of the least expensive supplements end up mostly in the lu, rather than being utilized by the body, so this is super important, otherwise you will be literally flushing your money down the lu.

You'll want to be sure you're taking a high quality omega 3 fatty acid supplement like cod liver oil too. Be sure you're Vitamin D level is in a good range (not low/normal) and if it's not, then you'll want to supplement with a high quality Vitamin D3.

For your husband, a zinc supplement can be helpful, as can 400 IU of Vitamin E, and a multi-vitamin for men.

Something that's also very beneficial is being sure you're getting enough greens, and something like an organic barley greens formula can definitely help with this.